TBS will broadcast the selection show for the first time, after more than 30 years on CBS. The two-hour broadcast begins at 5 p.m. Central (6 p.m. Eastern).

Unlike in years past when brackets would be revealed as the show went along, there is a new format this year. All 68 tournament teams will be revealed in alphabetical order at the beginning of the show, with teams "placed" in bracket pairing throughout the remainder of the broadcast.

Preview

The 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament will be revealed in the first 10 minutes of the selection show Sunday, and then the brackets and pairings will be unveiled one region at a time.

CBS and Turner announced the tweak to the selection show format Tuesday. The show will be aired on TBS for the first time since CBS and Turner Sports began partnering on NCAA Tournament coverage in 2011. The two-hour show will come from a new studio in Atlanta, customized for the selection show and will be done in front of a live audience.

CBS and Turner executives said Tuesday the entire bracket will be revealed within the first 45 minutes. The new twist comes in the first 10 minutes when first the automatic bids will be announced in alphabetical order by conference. Then at-large selections will be revealed in alphabetical order by team. Greg Gumble and Ernie Johnson will co-host...

Fact that may come in handy later...5 teams since 2006 have been listed in at least 90% of brackets and did not get a bid. OTOH, 5 teams have been listed in fewer than 10% of brackets and did get a bid.

It may not have been this way for a long time, but I thought the committee tried to keep conference members apart for as long as possible--at least that is what I remember from earlier tourneys.

Arkansas and Florida can meet in the Sweet Sixteen, as can NC State and Clemson, as well as Duke and Syracuse. Meanwhile, Auburn and Virginia Tech could make it to the Final Four without seeing another conference foe, as they are alone in their region.

Meanwhile, there are three Big 12 teams in the Midwest and none in the West. I think I saw 4 Big 10 teams, and two of them were in the West, none in the South.

Rasmussen said the committee didn’t go any further to see who else could be in that last spot. He said there was discussion on Baylor, Saint Mary’s and USC, the other three teams in the first four out. But Notre Dame was the team the committee looked at thoroughly as a last team to make the field had the Wildcats lost.

Rasmussen said there were a number of extended conversations over the weekend, and they included the debate over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Cowboys beat the Sooners in the Big 12 tournament, but the Sooners had better overall wins, especially in the non-conference. Arizona State also got into the field on the strength of its non-conference wins.

“The message sent is that we look at games in November and December as much as February and March if they are against the same caliber of teams,’’ said Rasmussen. “Oklahoma and Arizona State struggled down the stretch and that did affect their seeding.’’

Rasmussen said unbalanced conference schedules, like Syracuse’s in the ACC, did work to the advantage of some teams. Syracuse had a tough slate in the ACC.

“It’s definitely a factor of who you play,’’ said Rasmussen. “How did you do against the teams considered to be in the tournament?’’

One of the toughest aspects of bracketing for the committee was what to do with the placement of Big East teams. There were two No. 1 Big East teams in Villanova and Xavier and a number of teams in the No. 7-10 range that couldn’t be opposite them for a possible second-round matchup. Only one, Seton Hall, ended up in an 8-9 game and it wasn’t in Villanova’s or Xavier’s region.

Rasmussen said the committee was watching Duke and North Carolina closely to see if they won the ACC tournament and beat Virginia to possibly claim a No. 1 seed.

Fans of teams that get snubbed out of the NCAA Tournament always feel like their team's omission is one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice in the history of sport. And the history of justice.

However, the one thing that's always true is that each team that got left out gave the selection committee a good reason to omit them. Whether it ranges from a soft schedule to soft results, there's something about every bubble team that is not quite good enough.

And make no mistake -- there are also some fine qualities of the teams that are left out and some flaws in the teams that crawl onto the bottom of the bracket.

[Written Before the Bracket Reveal:]Orange played a good non-conference schedule, and that may be what keeps them in the field. They had a lot of chances to pick up higher quality wins, but did not hit on enough of them.

FIX: Beat Notre Dame at home. Syracuse caught the Irish shortly after Bonzie Colson got hurt and still couldn't get the win.